SM Entertainment announces ambitious plans for international boy group

by Jasmine Budler on Sun, Jan 31, 2016

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After four years since EXO's debut, SM Entertainment has announced their plans for their new boy group, NCT, that is shattering the conventional standards for K-pop and will attempt to "localize Hallyu" in the global market.

On January 27, 2016, SM Entertainment's founder, Lee So Man, spoke about the company's future plans for their highly anticipated, international boy group, NCT, at the SMTOWN: New Culture Technology 2016 conference in Seoul. He said, “Under the brand of ‘NCT (Neo Culture Technology)’ different teams will debut based in different countries around the world.” It was also revealed that there will be various collaborations and units to be formed in these different groups as to allow the movement of multiple members and new recruits to cycle throughout the teams, essentially creating an infinite member group.

The first unit is expected to debut in spring and be active in both Korea and Japan for the first half of this year. However in the second half, another group will debut and focus on being active in Korea and China. These two groups will slowly be followed by other groups that are set to be active and debut in larger regions, such as Southeast Asia and Latin America. Each team will take a song and sing it in the language of their designated region, creating the need for members to be specifically chosen for their teams.

To give a general idea for the project, a staggering forty members of the group performed for an audience in masks and were said to leave a lasting impression with their stage presence alone.

Soon following the announcement, SM Entertainment also revealed teaser videos for the group via Naver, but can be see here or here.

What do you think of the concept for SM's new boy group? Is forty members too extreme? Do you like the idea of K-pop songs being sung in various languages? Let us know in the comments below!!